'There will be a jolly row when mother finds it out,' he said to Maude
one day; 'for you know she holds her head a great deal higher than Hal
Hastings, who isn't the chap I'd choose for a brother-in-law. But if you
like him, all right. Stick to him, and I'll stand by you to the death.'
This was to Maude; while to his mother, when, she complained that Harold
came there quite too often, and that Maude was running after him too
much, he said:
'Nonsense, mother! let Maude alone. She knows what she is about, and
would not wipe her shoes on Hal Hastings, much less marry him. She is
lonely without Nina and Jerry, and not strong enough to read much
herself, and Hal amuses her; that's all. I know. I have talked with her.
I am keeping watch, and the moment I see any indications of love-making
on either side I will give you warning, and together we will put my fine
chap in his proper place in a jiffy.'
Tom was a young man now of twenty-seven, tall, and finely-formed, with
all his mother's good looks, and his Uncle Arthur's courtliness of
manner when he felt that his companions were worthy of his notice, but
proud, and arrogant, and self-asserting with his inferiors, or those
whom he thought such. He had never overcome his unwarrantable dislike of
Harold, whom he considered far beneath him; but Harold was too popular
to be openly treated with contempt, and so there was a show of
friendship and civility between them, without any real liking on either
side.
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